Fragments and Silences: Artist Talk with La Vaughn Belle

A talk with La Vaughn Belle, an artist from the United States Virgin Islands

How do we remember histories that have been erased, fragmented, or deliberately forgotten? In this artist talk,  La Vaughn Belle discusses her artistic practice and her two works in Beyond Tropaganda: Trading Post (2015) and Storm (2020–22). Working across installation, photography, painting, video, writing, and public interventions, Belle explores how images, objects, and landscapes hold multiple temporalities, bringing fragments of history, memory, and lived experience into new relationships.

Following Belle’s presentation, she will be joined in conversation by the curators of Beyond Tropaganda, art historian Mathias Danbolt and artist Jeannette Ehlers, to discuss how art can challenge colonial histories and shape public memory. The conversation will also offer an update on Belle and Ehlers’ ongoing collaborative project, I Am Queen Mary (2018–), the landmark monument in Copenhagen commemorating resistance to Danish colonialism in the former Danish West Indies.

The exhibition Beyond Tropaganda is developed in direct dialogue with Mathias Danbolt’s newly published book Tropaganda: Kunst, kolonialisme og kampe om historien (Strandberg Publishing) and brings together a group of artists whose practices critically engage with the legacies of colonialism connecting Denmark, Kalaallit Nunaat, the US Virgin Islands, Ghana, and wider colonial geographies. The exhibition is on view through 17 October 2026.

The exhibition’s performance and talks programme is generously supported by the Novo Nordisk Foundation and the Danish Arts Foundation.

More information about the event and previous events.

Registration

The event is for free, and no registration needed.